Getting that promotion was a monkey's paw for my free time.
monkey's paw
idiomA situation in which a wish or desire has been fulfilled, but at significant cost or with ironic, usually unfavourable consequences.
Origin
first recorded 20th c.From the 1902 short story "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs, in which a mummified monkey's paw is enchanted to grant a family three wishes, but with terrible consequences for them. Popularised by a segment based on Jacobs' story in the 1991 episode "Treehouse of Horror II" of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons.
He finally won the lottery, but it became a monkey's paw when greedy relatives started demanding money.
The new law promised economic stability, yet it proved to be a monkey's paw that stripped away essential civil liberties.